New blue cables snaked across ceilings and black boxes hung from walls as hundreds of Bay Area schools prepared themselves for NetDay96 and the brave new world of mouse clicking and web surfing.

Today is the day when 20 percent of California schools are supposed to be wired to use the global Internet system. For weeks, an estimated 20,000 volunteers have been stringing lines, drilling holes and plugging thick bundles of colored wires into special sockets.

At Lick Middle School in San Francisco yesterday, the blue cables ran along the hallway ceiling and the library floor. Donations from Pacific Bell and a computer company enabled the school to add seven Internet- ready computers to the four it already has. Jimi Brown, 12, who is working on a research project about the Aztecs, said books are an acceptable alternative for finding things out -- if no computer is available.

"With the Internet," he said, "you point, click and boom! It's like having a million books. Bam! All the resources you need, right there."

John Carolino, 13, is using the Internet for an astronomy project about light from distant stars. He must wait in line with his classmates for the chance to get Internet time. The last time he sat down, he said, he gathered information from 20 different Internet sites in less than an hour.

Technology buffs say Internet surfing is more than the '90s equivalent of encyclopedia cribbing, but a relatively cheap research tool that can put otherwise disadvantaged youngsters on level ground with more affluent kids. And no matter what the child's social class, the Internet can take students to foreign countries or far into the heavens.

At Lick, the four computers are always busy, even during lunch hour. Librarian Anne Milkie posted special lunchtime rules to limit goofing-off on the precious machines.

"People doing schoolwork get top priority," the rules say. "Students using popular Internet sites like MTV must share."

Social studies teacher Bill Scott said his students are doing research on comparative religions by sending electronic mail messages to an Islamic school in New York. Other Lick students are sending messages to youngsters in Alaska and Australia.

Lick computer teacher Connie Hendrix said she hopes to have all two dozen computers in the school lab hooked up by December.

In San Francisco, Pacific Bell has donated miles of cables and components, and dozens of businesses have sent technicians to hook it all up. About 30 schools are using high-speed lines that allow many computers to be connected simultaneously.

The work has been going on for weeks preceding NetDay96 and will continue for months. The school district expects that all schools will be fully wired by summer 1997.

In Concord, where Clinton and Gore will log on, the Ygnacio Valley High campus has hopped all week with workers, excited students and Secret Service agents performing security checks.

"Personally, I think the world would be better off if it wasn't so controlled by computers," said Ygnacio senior Grace Magnussen. "But hey, I'm glad for the chance to see the president. I've never seen him in person. It should be kind of cool."

"I have no idea why they chose our school, because really we're just your average American kids," she added. "Then again, maybe that's why they chose us."

In Oakland, NetDay96 performed one further miracle -- a one-day truce in the three-week teachers strike. The picket lines will be down while the computer lines are going up.

And while Clinton and Gore are in Concord today, Education Secretary Richard Riley will surf the web in San Diego and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown will log on in Sacramento.

Across California, more than 2,500 wiring kits have been donated by phone companies. Each contains enough cable and equipment to hook up a dozen or so computers. About 20,000 volunteers have already pitched in and others may sign up by calling (800) 55-NET-96 or checking in at http:// www.netday96.com on the World Wide Web.

"NetDay96 is a demonstration of what can happen when people coalesce around a community project," said John Gage, chief science officer at Sun Microsystems and the co-founder of NetDay96. "In one day, we can begin to reverse California's abysmal record of putting technology into its classrooms."